Bike Rack Options Involving TaB Aluminum Cage

Interesting questions.  I've been looking at options to mount mountain bikes on our 320 Boondock.  And welcome to the forum!!  There is a lot of good info here.

My first concern with your setup would be the weight of the e-bikes themselves.  I believe the Yakima HighRoad is rated to 45 lbs as per the installation instructions.  How easy is it to take the front wheels off and think about one of the racks with a front fork mount?  And how much weight would that shave off?

I think sharing the weight of the bikes between the lower Yakima crossbar and the aluminum rack is an interesting idea, especially since it would reduce loading height.  It's hard to pin anyone down on the rack capacity, but I seem to recall something around 100lbs.  I'm not sure the aluminum cage is rated for structural strength - at least I haven't seen anything.  Given that the weight would not be shared equally between the rack and the cage because of the slanted mounting, more weight would be shifted to the cage.  I know the cage is a great towel drying rack and works wonderfully to tie up the dog, but I'm not sure about static load or dynamic load as you bounce down the highway!

The front rack is pretty sturdy.  I've seen folks load up the front section of that with generators, water jugs, and other heavy gear.  But now you've got to think about tongue weight, another confounding factor!  But if you switch to a lithium battery that would make up some of the weight of one of the bikes ....  Some folks are using the Jack-it that mounts to the frame, but I've only seen it with standard bikes, not e-bikes.  I think the 2-place Jack-it is rated to 80 lbs.  

So I'm not sure I helped you any!  I'm thinking about mounting our 2 mountain bikes on the back rack without the front tire (maybe shared with the cage as you proposed to reduce load height), but they are standard bikes, not e-bikes.  Maybe for you, one e-bike on the front, one on the back???

Good luck!  I look forward to watching this thread and listening to other folks ideas.

My previous Ebike was non-folding.  In order to secure it to the rear cargo area of my Ford Expedition, I installed a front fork brace to the cargo floor.  Would take off the front wheel and secure the front fork to the brace.  However, if you have a fat tire bike, the locking mechanism on all the commercially available fork braces is too small.  Had to devise my own and it was a pain using it.  Just something to be aware of.  I now have a Rad Mini that folds into a somewhat compact profile.  Soooo much easier to take in and out of the TV.

This is what your roof rack is attached to in the trailer structure.  Light weight aluminum tubing. I'd be uncomfortable putting 112+ pounds on it.

 

DanWeitzel said:

This is what your roof rack is attached to in the trailer structure.

Dan, what do the last two pictures represent? Is that damage as the result of overloading a roof rack? I've been routinely carrying +/- 125lbs on my homemade rack. Don't like the thought that it could be failing under the shell where I can't see it.

VictoriaP said:The stock Yakima rack on the Boondock has a 70 lb limit. I wouldn’t exceed that amount.

AnOldUR said:

VictoriaP said:The stock Yakima rack on the Boondock has a 70 lb limit. I wouldn’t exceed that amount.

I don't know if it's for better or worse, but my rack is not a Yakima. It's made from spare parts I had in the shop and a Harbor Freight hitch basket. What makes me nervous is that the @DanWeitzel picture looks like it split clean across. I can't imagine a failure that would cause that. It does appear to be where a rack mounting screw went through one wall and the wire routing hole probably didn't help. I still don't see there being enough flex to cause that type of break. More details from Dan would be helpful.

Lots of mile on this with no signs of problems, but ....

No opinion on “better or worse”, but if the limit on the factory mount is 70, we know without question the roof is designed to support at least 70 in the location where nuCamp mounts the Yakima. What we don’t know if it can sustain more weight in that location, or whether or not your homemade solution with different mounting points on a different part of the roof can handle almost twice that weight without damaging the structure in ways you cannot see until it’s too late.

markbless said:

I agree with your logic and conservative approach, VictoriaP. Still leaves possibility of one bike on rack across Yakima + aluminum cage.

My understanding is that the “cage” is intended as nothing more than a lightweight (mostly decorative) brush guard. NuCamp has stated it cannot be used as a step to reach the Yakima rack, but I haven’t seen a specific weight limit for it. I would suggest you contact them regarding your intended use to confirm before putting any weight on it at all. My guess is that “towel rack” really is the best use for that cage.

Also, if I’ve read your post correctly, you asked about using the aluminum rail around the tire platform on the tongue as an alternative mounting point. Unless that aluminum rail has been changed since my 2019 (and I don’t believe it has), it too is not designed to bear any significant weight. I would again check with nuCamp before trying to incorporate that into any plans for carrying and ebike or two using that rail for support. 

See pictures below for some additional ideas.

Regarding loading on back of trailer, steel tubing inserted inside lower Yakima rack bar for additional stiffness. 

At front of trailer, original trailer tongue jack exchanged for tilt-up jack that folds up parallel to trailer tongue frame. No more smashing the protruding OEM lower jack stub at driveway dips, etc. Also allowed for installation of adjustable, two position, extendable trailer tongue.

The expanding and contracting trailer tongue was professionally installed and welded in. The extra trailer tongue length allows room for two electric bikes in front of the equipment box on a sleeve hitch bike rack mounted to the trailer (in my case using 1up bike rack) or a trailer mounted, removable motorcycle ramp. The receiving sleeve for the bike rack is also removable. With trailer tongue extended, full turning radius is then possible without bikes or motorcycle hitting the tow vehicle.

The trailer tongue is appropriately reinforced at trailer frame. It can be used at either stock OEM trailer tongue length or in the extended position to allow more room for the e-bikes or a motorcycle utilizing the separate, removable motorcycle rack. The adjustable trailer tongue is completely removed when not in use for additional anti-theft security.

Tows well and very stable at all speeds, arguably better than OEM configuration when loaded up and in the extended trailer tongue position.

Modification process was straightforward and relatively simple.

We carry  the two halves off our home welded 89 pound steel tandem ADA three- piece(+) bike upright inside our pickup cap but also wish  for a trailer mount solution..

Bill F. has the right idea!

Not endorsing, thete are hitch extenders that might keep the bike with the vehicle while extending trailer tongue back for clearance.  Beware of crappy welds hidden under black paint however.

Dual Hitch Extender
https://www.harborfreight.com/dual-hitch-extender-69881.html

I am going to look into this concept myself and weld something up when i reweld our tray.

Also beware... Our 2021 tab 320 front aluminum tray came attached with only two 1/4 inch bolts through the wimpy c channnel trailer frame, and two #14 self sheet metal screws.  I redrilled frame for four 3/8 grade 5 bilts, plate washers to spread torque, and nylok insert nuts.  One good bump could have sheared the screws and pivoted tray and contents upwards torquing the propane line.

Also discovered you can jacknife backing up and crunch front of tray with bumper on a foggy night.  Extended tongue a necessity!

Out tacoma pickup tailgate height when lowered would have hit the original trailer jack.  Replacing jack with side mounted swing down type required fabricating a mounting/shim plate against c channel frame and remounting tray 3/4 inch higher for jack clearance 

Maybe american truck tailgates clear but i  tthink the factory tongue us way too short.

(+ Frame built with S&S couplers)

I second Victoria, extending the TV hitch is a bad idea, adds to trailer instability also.  Extending the TaB tongue is just the opposite, decreases your tongue weight, and can increase the trailer towing stability.  The issue is the distance between the TV and the hitch ball position, the further you put that ball pivot/trailer loading point from the TV axle, the less stable the trailer becomes.
Cheers 

@AnOldUR It was explained to me as being as much an issue of the weakness/potential failure point inherent in adding an extra connection into the equation as it was about the added length of an extender. Being a non engineer, I can’t say if that’s accurate.

@AnOldUR I suspect it’s both. The problem with the connections would be that they’re the points where the system flexes the most while underway. Add in the extra length between the hitch and the new ball mount location, and the now trailer moves differently with a new pivot point, adding more stress on those joints. Now add 100 extra pounds of ebike onto the weakest point in your setup and run it over a bad pothole and it’s not hard to see what could happen.

But again, not an engineer. I’ve just heard the 50% rule repeatedly from them on multiple towing forums (and from the etrailer website), enough to understand that using a hitch extender is a bad idea unless you have a vehicle that can handle losing half its tongue weight capacity. Most Tab owners (especially 320 owners) aren’t using vehicles that can afford that…my offseason tongue weight with literally almost nothing in the trailer and only one battery up front is already at 215. If I were to add a hitch extender, my limit would be 175. Don’t have to be a math major to figure out that’s not going to work!

@pthomas745 Thanks, very interesting link!